1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of towels, and more particularly to an improved towel that is intended to be used in a hair salon or within the hair care, cosmetology, spa and other related industries and services.
2. Prior Art
The present invention is primarily intended to be used within the cosmetology, beauty and hair care industries. Whenever a client visits a hair salon for a haircut or other related salon services, it is customary to for the salon to provide a towel that covers the person""s neck and shoulders. The purpose of the towel is to provide protection to the client""s clothing and skin from any hair clippings, water or chemicals that may be used. This protection is increasingly more important, given the ever more prevalent use of special colorings, dyes and other materials in the beauty and hair care industry. Similarly, in the cosmetics and cosmetology fields it is often desired to provide a protective covering for the customer who is applying beauty products.
In the past, it has been the usual practice to use an ordinary, rectangular, towel to provide the client with the needed protection. This approach has not been entirely satisfactory, however. A rectangular towel is not necessarily well suited to fit comfortably around a person""s neck. The towel will not drape smoothly over the person""s shoulders and will typically bunch up to form wrinkles and voids. The towel will not have a continuous fall from the shoulder. This is undesirable for a number of reasons. First, the presence of the wrinkles and voids results in an unkempt and unprofessional appearance. This is often unacceptable to the hair and beauty salon. In addition, the voids and open spaces can allow the hair clippings, chemicals and other items to fall beneath the towel. Then, the protection which the towel is sought to provide is obviated. Also, bunching around the neck limits the application of styling chemicals and other grooming techniques.
It has been known in the past to use special smocks or aprons which can take the place of the usual towel. These alternative items each have their own drawbacks and limitations, however. The specialized smocks and aprons are often bigger and more cumbersome than a towel. Perhaps most important, these items are significantly more expensive to manufacture, leading to higher prices for the salon. Being larger, the towels are also more expensive to launder, thereby adding to the business expenses of the salon.
The present invention provides an improved towel that is intended and designed to overcome the limitations of the prior art. The towel is intended to be used primarily in the cosmetology, beauty and hair care industries. In its preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a towel which has at least a top edge and first and second side edges, and contains an improvement, which includes a slit cut into the towel, the slit extends partially into the towel from the top edge and is disposed substantially parallel to the side edges, the towel further includes a reinforcement means located on the towel substantially adjacent to an end point of the slit, and an attachment means coupled to two corners of the towel.